Events

Kidnapping Victim’s Mother Details Tough Recovery

DENVER (CBS4) – The mother of a girl who was kidnapped talked about the family’s nightmare for the first time on Thursday.

Bret Thompson is now in prison for the crime. He kidnapped the little girl from her West Denver neighborhood in 2011.

The mother says her daughter is not the same little girl she once was before the kidnapping and sexual assault. The girl’s mother didn’t want to be identified and spoke to CBS4 through a translator, but her face and her voice conveyed just what an ordeal it has been.

“She gets a piece of paper, writes everything; she writes everything about her feelings, good and bad,” the mother said.

The mother says her daughter still won’t talk to her about the ordeal. The family sees changes in the youngster — she’s more easily frightened and quick to cry, but there are good times.

“She is happy but when she remembers what happens she gets sad she stays quiet.”

The victim has been going to the Children’s Denver Advocacy Center for counseling. The details of the crime that she shared in sessions helped prosecute Thompson.

“We want to obtain as many details from them in their own words to help aid in the investigation, wherever it might lead,” Jodi Byrnes with the Denver Advocacy Center said.

In this case it led to the conviction of Thompson, and that has been the greatest comfort to the mother and her daughter who are still frightened and confused.

“I feel bad. I remember about her, what happened. But I cannot forget.

The woman wanted to share her story so that people know there are resources for children who go through trauma. She and her daughter can relax a bit knowing Thompson will be in prison.